A growing body of evidence suggests that living with purpose may help you live longer. Recently, researchers wondered whether this effect would apply equally across genders, ethnicities, and races. This was the focus of a new study led by Dr. Koichiro Shiba, assistant professor at Boston University’s School of Public Health in Massachusetts.
According to the results, having a purpose lowers the risk of all causes of mortality, regardless of gender, race, or ethnicity, but the effects were more pronounced among women. The study was recently published in Preventative Medicine.
Previous research has found strong associations between having a sense of purpose
in life and greater longevity. For the present study, the researchers analyzed a diverse, large, and nationwide sample of older adults in the United States, looking for associations between a sense of purpose and mortality across gender, race, and ethnicity.
The data came from 13,159 adults over the age of 50 who had participated in the longitudinal Health and Retirement Study sponsored by the National find something to live for,” Dr. Hooker said. “That may be contributing to the family, household, or community in a meaningful way.”
“However, it doesn’t need to be a big task. For example, as described in Atul Gawande’s book ‘Being Mortal,’ nursing home patients lived longer if they were given a plant to care for,” Dr. Hooker added.